Remember That You Are Human, and That He ISN'T
by Ice Wings of Paradise
Summary: Nero and Maria, his best friend, are sent to track down Dante. Basically DMC4 but with my OC. Nero oc. Don't hurt me too much. Rated T for language, but it's really not that bad. Finished.
1. Chapter 1

**AN: -sighs- I can't believe I actually did this. I'm sorry to all the fans out there. If you like it, I try and CPR the bitch.**

**Read..... Now!**

I stood in the shadows of one of the many tall buildings around Fortuna, huffing impatiently and constantly checking my watch. Nero, one of my best friends, insisted that I waited for him here, and I agreed, but of course he's late. How come that doesn't surprise me?

We were going to Kyrie's concert; we've talked for weeks how this is her lucky break. We've been best friends for so long we can't remember, and I don't think anyone else remembers as well. Nero was the impulsive, sarcastic one, Kyrie the calm, sensible one, and I the dry humoured, complaining and intelligent one. I've noticed for a while that they've had this thing, but after much surveillance (and a few nights hiding in the trees outside their rooms) I concluded that it was just brotherly-sisterly… I hope.

I stretched my tensed muscles, the fingers on my right hand brushing past the handle on my gun, Mori. It was a great gun; a Vincent Valentine classic. I frowned; something's obviously come up. Nero (except on a few occasions, i.e. My BIRTHDAY) is usually on time. I felt even more uncomfortable, since I left my sword, Mementus, at home for the mass. I jumped around a bit more, still impatient. God Nero, I thought. Where are you?

Suddenly, a blur of blue, red and silver shot past me. I knew those colours; it was Nero! The bastard, he didn't stop. I sprinted after him, a scowl already on my face.

"Where the hell were you?" I shouted at him. Due to my recent slackening of training, I'm not as fit as I liked, so I started to pant very slightly. "Kyrie's going to be furious; the mass must've started by now!"

"Like I didn't already know that!" Nero yelled back at me. "You could've gone without me, you know?!"

"Yeah, and seem like a total bitch to you!" I shouted back. "Although, don't think that I didn't think of telling Kyrie that you're too much of a stuck up douche to come to your best friend's most important day in her life!"

Nero let a chuckle escape from his lips, and I grinned. If I said that to anyone else, they'd be appalled, but after spending over 10 years of coping with my shit, he's gotten used to it.

We ran on, the wind making my red jacket fly behind me. It was made of red silk, and had my symbol, a black ace of spades, on the black. The sleeves, ending near my shoulders, was trimmed in red, and the shoulders had black epaulettes with the Order's symbol on it. Normally, I wear a much more sensible cotton one, but this was a special occasion, so I decided to forego my rule just for today.

Suddenly, a voice echoed through the air, echoing around Fortuna. It could only be Kyrie. Nero and I skidded to a stop, and I swore harshly under my breath. We were sooo late. And to make it worse, a shitload of scarecrows are walking towards us. Nero gritted his teeth. "Easy tiger," I said mildly. "Growling and shit ain't gonna scare them away." Nero shot a glare at me, and I bit of the other sentence I was gonna say. I pulled out Mori, the silver triple-barrelled gun shining in the setting sun.

As if on cue, we charged simultaneously, and the scarecrows jumped. I stopped and fired off a round into a leaping scarecrow's head, while Nero ran on and kicked a group of them. I sent off a few more shots to the demons around him, just to make sure because his arm was still injured after that mission. As he punched one to the side, I skidded under a scarecrows legs, firing a round as I did so. Before he exploded or whatever they did, I grabbed the blade surgically attached to his arm and swept it around me, cutting several scarecrows' legs off. From there, it went a bit hazy; I tend to do that when I'm fighting for my life. I just focused on what I was doing, and what Nero was doing. I remember him pulling off a scarecrows arm altogether, but I had to dodge to the side as another attempted to split me down the middle.

"Maria!" Nero shouted after a few minutes of ass kicking. "Let's go!"

"Righty o!" I said, and fired of my most potent shot, three bullets at the same time. It's pretty risky as well, since it empties half of the ammunition in my gun. I didn't have a chance to see how I went, I just bolted while Nero jumped on jumping scarecrows. "Show off!" I shouted at him, grinning. He shot me a grin, as he landed on the ground and sliced a few scarecrows. He did a very impressive jump, slicing some more demons as I reloaded my gun. I shot one that was just about to stab him in the back, and ducked as another one on the ground attempted to behead me. I shot it in the body, and leaped over it exploding form.

By the time Nero and I turned around, we saw that they were all dead. "So much for running," I said dryly, before taking off. Nero followed me, a second behind.

Kyrie's voice hit the final note, and I poured more speed on. The opera house finally loomed in sight. We pumped up the steps, and I headed a sharp left. Nero took after me without a word, but I knew he was wondering where I was going. "Side entrance," I explained breathlessly, and I assumed he nodded. We slipped in slightly, the guards giving us questioning looks under their hoods. Nero tiptoed lightly to his seat, and I slid in an empty row right up the front. As the audience broke into a applause, I clapped as well. Kyrie glanced at me, a smile on her lips, and smiled even wider at Nero. I raised an eyebrow; was something going on?

Kyrie walked off the stage, and I got up to meet her. "Hey, you were great!" I said brightly. She raised an eyebrow. "Where were you two?" she asked.

"Well, I don't know about Nero, but I was help this poor old man. Oh wait, sorry, it was Nero." I grinned; I thought it was pretty fun to tease Nero about his hair. He, on the other hand, didn't.

Kyrie laughed good-heartedly. "Well, let's go sit down," she said.

After we put Kyrie's retarded tiara and lace away, we tiptoed up the aisle to our usual spot. Kyrie sat closest to the aisle, I in the middle, and Nero next to some old man. He didn't like masses so he was listening to music, making the old man grumpy. I smiled slightly and was about to sit down before Nero's hand whipped to my seat. I looked at it; it was a small blue box with a gold ribbon. It was a present for me.

I was touched at this out-of-character act. Nero never gave out presents, even to Kyrie. I smiled gently at Nero, he just looked at me and looked away. I picked it up, and sat down.

The mass went on for _ages_. His Holiness, Sanctus, waffled on about Sparda and how he was awesome he was and we should worship him or something; I tended to let my mind drift through masses. Unfortunately, Nero was making that rather hard as he kept on huffing and sighing and huffing I nudged him, and shot him a disapproving look. He shot one back and huffed away. The only problem was that it was attracting Credo, Kyrie's brother's attention.

Although Nero couldn't stand the guy, I really liked him. We were actually good friends, doing a few missions a few years back. He rose quickly through the ranks, while I sat comfortably and watched.

Anyway, Credo scowled at Nero, and made eye contact with me. I shrugged slightly, and Credo rolled his eyes. I chuckled softly, and turned my attention to the mass. "-our gracious savior would shelter us from the storm. Let us pray!" Sanctus exclaimed, put his hands together and bowed his head. Everyone copied this action, well, everyone except for Nero.

Finally, Nero's nerves snapped. He stood up abruptly, making Kyrie and I stare at him.

"Nero, what's wrong?" Kyrie said softly.

"All this preaching is putting me to sleep," he complained.

"Suck it up, pussy," I muttered under my breath. Unfortunately, Nero heard me, and scowled at me. I tried my best to do my totally-innocent face.

"But it's not over yet," Kyrie argued softly.

"Forget it Ky, we both know that he won't budge. I'll go with him, if that makes you feel better." Good chance to find out what's in the box.

Kyrie's eyes softened, and she nodded slightly. I stood up, and walked sideways to get out of the pew. Unfortunately, I tripped on my own foot, and suddenly I was in a crash course straight for the marble floor. Luckily, Nero held his right arm up to stop me, and I flung my arms around it. Then something peculiar happened; it glowed blue three times.

"What the-" I managed to say, before a sixth sense took over and screamed at me to look up. Me and Nero looked up - he had the same instinct too, how strange - just to see a man crash through the stain glass dome. The man landed on the altar straight in front of His Holiness, and I noticed he wore a red coat.

A second passed. We all stared at him. Suddenly, he pulled out a white gun and shot His Holiness in the head.

My heart thundered, and I felt tears prick my eyes. I wasn't upset for His Holiness, far from it. I was just terrified of the loss of human life in front of me. It was a well kept secret of mine, no one knowing it, not even Nero, the person I trusted the most in the world. By will force, I pushed the tears down, and said, "Shit."

I kind of went into a daze. I remember Credo shouting out, and I heard the sound of swords being drawn. I remember seeing the man, half of his face covered in blood, look across the room, his gaze lingering on Nero and I. I also heard screams, as people ran for the exits.

Nero grabbed my hand - on another day, I would've made a joke causing him to let go- and we ran for the exits. Some shithead bumped into me, making me lose my present. I saw people step on it, and I got pissed. I glanced back, and saw Credo desperately holding off against the man. I slipped out of Nero's grip, pulled out Mori (I KNEW I should've brought Memetus!), and sprinted to the two men. Unfortunately, my feet struck again, and I tripped over them. I fell pathetically to the floor, while the man stood above me. I gave him my most venomous look, but he just raised an eyebrow.

But then he got face full of Nero's boots.

I drew Mori, and fired two rounds at him, but he just deflected them off his massive sword. I was mildly impressed; I wish I could do that.

The man landed on Sparda the statue's head, Nero followed closely holding his gun, Blue Rose. The douche, he brought it with him.

"Nero!" I shouted disapprovingly as I got up, hands on my hips.

"Maria! Kyrie! Go with Credo and get outta here!" Nero shouted at us.

"No fucken-" I started before Credo clamped a hand over my mouth. "I will return with help!" He shouted at him. "You stall him until then!" I shoved his hand away, but moved with the two siblings. I heard Nero remark something, and flicked his head so his headphones sailed away. I managed to grab them before I hit the ground, and left the oepra house, wondering if Nero can handle this.

**Thanks for reading! Please, tell me ANY of your thoughts on this. I really want to hear them. Honestly. I'm not lying. kthnxbai.**


	2. Chapter 2

**AN: Gasp, another chapter in just a few days. A record. Sorry, I've been having a lot of nights with the computer to myself.**

As I sprinted through the streets of Fortuna, I wondered what the HELL I should do and debated to get Mementus. But my mind kept on drifting back to Nero and that man's fight, but I knew Nero can handle it. But then I remembered that he only had Blue Rose...

I slammed to a stop. My plan was simple; get Mementus, then pick up Red Queen, deliver it to Nero. Ding dong, your sword's here, that'll be $30.

I turned a hard right at the next fork, aiming to get to my apartment before there were any more disturbances. Demons were on the rise, and if I was a moment too late, Nero might be killed. Which would suck, because I'm not allowed to make fun of Kyrie. Last time I did that, she bawled for a week. Nero didn't like that too much.

Crap, I left my mind drift, I missed the next turnoff. By the time I got back to it, I wish I hadn't. The street was cluttered with scarecrows. "Not allowed to have a break, am I," I complained to no one in particular, but I drew Mori. Deciding the best plan was to get away from them rather than fight them, I ran up and used a scarecrow as a demonic trampoline to glide over half of the demons. When my knee high cowgirl boots (complete with spurs) hit the ground, I was running again. A scarecrow aimed a slash at me, I fired a round into its stomach, letting it burst. I jumped over another, then turned a hard left into another street, a few houses down, there it was! My apartment, with one of my most prized treasures.

Bursting through the door, I pumped up the three flights of stairs saw my small door. In my mind, I debated which would be faster; unlocking the door or bursting through it. The latter won, and I shoulder-rammed into my living room. I saw Mementus; the black blade shining on its mount. I grabbed it, ran into the lobby and slid down the staircase. A scarecrow was there to greet my arrival. I skewered it, flung it off and tore off to Nero's house. Thank god that we were lucky enough to live near each other.

Nero lived on the ground, his window looking onto the street. I didn't have a key for his house (although he had one for mine for some strange reason...), so best point of entry was the window. I shot through it, able to pin drop through the shattering glass. I saw Red Queen's massive case on his coffee table, so I grabbed it and lifted it up.

Shit, it was heavy! "Geez Nero, got enough stuff on it?" I said grumpily, but slung it over my back just the same. Deciding to use the front door this time (locking it after me, hate for Nero to get angry at me... Oh right, the window.), I decided to walk back to the opera house. I used side streets, being very careful to not run into anymore demons, as I was there.

In the main plaza, I saw Credo and Kyrie walking back. Man, Credo looked tense. "Credo! Kyrie!" I shouted, waving my sword since my hands were full. They waved back, and I decided to drop Red Queen's case. "Ah, good," Credo said after examining the case. "I going to ask you to get that."

"Well, we'll say it was your request to get it so you don't seem to bad," I said. I hated taking the glory. He shrugged, and I decided to just drag it there. I stretched my arm; it was sore after carrying it for so long. "Do you want me to take it?" Kyrie asked, always helpful.

"Just for a little while," I said, smiling down at her. I was pretty tall, almost 6;1, so most people had to look up to talk to me, Kyrie not being the exception. She grabbed the handle, and gave it an experimental pull. The thing didn't budge. I bit back the joke on my tongue, let's not put her into the Bawl-Mode...

"Well, let's go," I said, and set off at a fast pace. Credo matched it, although we had to stop a few times to wait for Kyrie to catch up. Man, she had NO upper body strength.

***

"Come on Kyrie! I wanna get there _today_, if you don't mind!" I said asked she tugged past us. She was panting slightly. I sighed. Credo went ahead, lucky bastard. Just then, my patience met its limit. "Alright, my turn, hand it over." I said. Kyrie dropped it gratefully. I decided pulling was easier, so I set off at a leisurely stroll. The case scraped against the ground noisily, but I didn't let that bother me.

Finally, we were at the steps for the opera house. I tugged up the stairs, to see Nero pacing anxiously. I sighed in relief as he seemed to be in one piece. I also noticed that his right sleeve was pulled down, and was that a blue tinge coming from his fingertips? I didn't know, but I didn't care.

Nero smiled as he saw me walk confidently into the room, dragging Red Queen behind me. "You brought this here for me?" he asked as I stopped.

_No shit Sherlock. _"Credo requested," I explained. "She yearns for your touch." I added as a side thought.

_What the hell? Why did I say that?!_ I mentally slapped myself after saying that. Luckily Nero didn't think too much about it as he took the case from me. "Thanks!" he said brightly. "This blade's the best battle companion a swordsman could wish for." He pulled it to the ground in one flourishing move, and started to set the sword up.

I let my mind wander; an interesting thought occurred to me What happened to the present Nero gave me? I decided to look around

A hint of blue caught my attention as some smashed up chairs. I walked over and knelt down; it was the box for my present. Lying in it was a beautiful silver necklace with an ace of spades pendant on it, encrusted with onyxes and rubies. It suited me perfectly, and even at the top of the spade there was a small emerald, the exact colour of my eyes. My breath caught in my throat; it must've cost heaps.

I decided to put it on straight away. As I was fiddling with the clasp, I heard Nero say, "Fortuna Castle, huh?"

"That's what the witnesses said," Credo confirmed, frowning as Nero thrust the now-complete Red Queen into the ground.

"Guy just came from Hell, he's gotta hit up a couple tourist sites!" Nero joked as he revved Red Queen experimentally.

"You jest so lightly in a time of crisis?!" Credo yelled. I walked over, my shoes clacking on the marble floor. "Sit down Credo. It was just a joke." Just then Nero noticed the necklace on my neck. He smiled -not a smirk, a genuine smile- , and I smiled back.

Credo looked gravely at Nero. "You must capture him."

"Trust us, we'll get it done," I said confidently.

"We?" Nero asked, raising an eyebrow.

I grinned. "Don't think for a second you're gonna leave me out of this." Nero started to protest, but he soon gave up. I can be very strong minded when I wanted to be. And right now, this seems too good to pass up.

"I must return to headquarters and report," Credo announced, and started to walk away.

"You do that Cre! Report that son-of-a-bitch!"" I said, grinning madly. He glared at me, I kept on grinning.

Credo was going to say something, but just then the ground rumbled. I raised my eyebrow, and decided to check outside. Unfortunately, everyone had the same idea. Damn, and I thought I was being original.

As we entered the plaza, everything looked normal. I frowned."Maybe it was-

"Somebody help me!"

A man came stumbling from behind the fountain. He looked weak, and he had a suspiciously bloody wound on his side. I took a step forward, but a scarecrow jumped from behind the fountain. It dragged the poor man back, screaming, and slicing sounds could be heard. Finally, the man's body came flying from the other side of the fountain, and hit the ground with a thud.

I tried to swallow the fear that was starting to appear. "Shit," I mumbled, as more civilians came running pursued by scarecrows. There was so much blood. I closed my eyes, trying not to be upset or anything.

"Is it him?" I heard Nero growl. I refused to open my eyes and I licked my lips nervously.

"I, I'm not sure," Credo replied back.

I took a deep breath, and snapped open my eyes. I put on a big grin. "Well, these scarecrows aren't gonna get away with all this," I said brightly. "Credo, we'll hold them off, you do something about the civilians."

Credo raised an eye at me. I knew I shouldn't be talking to Credo like that, especially since he's the Supreme General, but there was no time for that now. I drew Mementus and ran into the fray, trying my best not to look at anything lying still.

"Maria, Nero! Report back as soon as you can, and be careful!" Credo jabbed a finger in our directions as he said this.

"We got it already!"Nero said impatiently, and turned to the fighting.

I drew Mori in a heartbeat and shot a nearby scarecrow, and turned around. There was a little kid standing there crying, while a crowd of scarecrows noticed him and leapt up. I sprinted up to him, fell to my knees and drew my secret gun, Persona, and unleashed a volley of bullets into the group. Then I put them away, drew Mementus, leapt into the air and did a powerful sideways slash and landed on the balls of my feet. "Get out of here," I said calmly to the little boy. He nodded and ran away.

I retreated from the demons, sword slashing, gun firing. I saw that some of the demons were heading to the archway, there they would probably ransack the city. I stood back and back with Nero, and I heard him say, "Not so fast..." He rolled up his sleeve. It had changed, now covered in what seemed like red and blue scales, and the palm glowed a bright blue. I stared at it, shocked, but I snapped out of it as a scarecrow slashed at me. I stabbed him and went back to the fray, mind whirring. _What was with Nero's arm? Is a new weapon? Why does he have it?_

I watched dumbfounded as Nero extended his blue arm and a giant version of it darted forward and grabbed the demons that were near the archway. My eyes widened seeing that. He swung his arm around making it hit all the demons that were in its path. He hit the gate exit also, keeping the demons from escaping and keeping us trapped with them. As the demons were falling down from the air, Nero drew Red Queen and finished them off. He went all out to kill these demons while I just stood and watched, dumbfounded.

Nero stabbed another scarecrow in the back, then revved up Red Queen, which made it glow red, then started riding the demon he stabbed like a skateboard. I was still shocked and just continued to watch. As he rode he hit all the demons and threw them into a gate. The gate then fell smashing the last of the demons.

Nero turned to me. I noticed my jaw was slightly open, so it clamped it shut. "Holy shit," was all I could say. "I'm gonna have to train a fuck more to just to get near your standard."

"This baby can sure pack a punch," he agreed, and I noticed that he exhaled a little. Was he worried that I would be scared? I couldn't tell.

"Well," I announced. "That guy is getting farther away now, and standing around ain't gonna help us with anything."

"Uhh, one problem," Nero said. I raised an eyebrow. "How are we gonna get out?"

I looked around; Nero had smashed nearly all the exits. Nearly. I smiled mocking smile. "Why, the door of course!" I said, and pointed to the small blue door. Nero rubbed his nose, a little embarrassed, and we started our journey to Fortuna Castle.

**Thanks for , I'm gonna do the important cut scenes, and also the ones that I like or think that a relevant.**

**Next time: Berial and entering Fortuna Castle. Maybe. I like to write around 2 000 words per chapter. If you think that's too much/little, tell me. I honestly want to know.**


	3. Chapter 3

**HOCRAP I'M UPDATING AFTER AGES.**

**Also, I changed Maria's hair to long. Why? So I can imagine her better, and it's my story and I can do whatever the hell I want with it.**

Since Nero was kind enough to knock out the fastest route to Fortuna Castle, we were forced to go through some people's houses. They were pretty messy, and there were gaps in stairways. I barely made it over, despite my long ass legs. Demons came up to say hello, which slowed us down.

We found this thing for his Devil Arm (or Scaly Glowy Thing, as I lovingly nicknamed it), which meant that he can grab all sorts of stuff from far away. He can even propel himself into the air. I only made it by grabbing onto his ankle at the last second.

Finally, we were outside, and near a bridge. We got to the controls. "We found them," I said gratefully. Nero pressed a few buttons, trying to turn it on. Nothing, it was dead.  
"Ah well, we'll have to find another way over," I said with a shrug.  
"Dammit!" Nero said, smacking his hand on the controls.  
"Geez, don't hurt yourself," I said mildly. Nero stormed away from it, then whipped around and shot the controls.  
"Really!" I scolded, placing my hands on my hips. "What did that accomplish?" Nero grunted. Suddenly, the light flicked green, and the bridge lowered. Nero shot me a superior look. "Oh, don't get full of yourself," I grumbled, as we headed over to the bridge.

We walked all day, and we reached a deserted village at nightfall. It was dirty and dusty, and I didn't like it, but hey, better than spending the night in a cold abandoned church, huddling next to each other. Actually, that'd be pretty fun. Not that I'm suggesting that I have feelings for Nero.

At the end of the town was a big stone slab, like a door or something. It was malevolent, and it hasn't done anything yet. Cool.  
"Let me guess, more demons," Nero said as he stared at it. Just then, the doorway glowed orange, and the biggest demon I'd ever seen emerged from it. It set everything on fire, simply because of its presence.

"Shit," I mumbled. We couldn't take that down. We'd need over fifty fully armed Knights from the Order to take this son of a bitch down, and even then our chances were slim.  
But Nero seemed calm. In fact, even as the demon rumbled, "Ahh, the human world, it's been a while," and headed off towards the city, Nero walked straight past it confidently.

I looked at the houses around me. They were all ablaze. "Really, Nero? People lived here," I said. Nero rolled his eyes at me, but drew Red Queen. With a flourish, he span the sword around, extinguishing the fires.  
I clapped politely. The demon turned around. "How curious..."  
"Fire's bad for the complexion," Nero explained. "I burn easily, never tan."  
"He does," I put in. It's pretty funny, he peels like crap.

"When I came to this world 2,000 years ago, there was no such human as the likes of you," the demon said.  
I felt pretty cocky; I'd seen Nero with his Scaly Glowy Thing, he could take this jerk down. "Wanna make it another 2, 000?" I asked, grinning wickedly.

"SILENCE!" The demon roared, fire flaming all around him. "Futile pest, you will suffer the wrath of Berial! I, the conqueror of the fire hell!" It stabbed its massive sword towards Nero and I, but Nero caught the tip of it with the tip of Red Queen. It glowed red hot.

Geez, I could see that Nero was pissed now. I drew Mori and Mementus. "Let's get to work then," I said.

It was pretty intense. I couldn't handle being too close to it for too long, so I just irritated it by continuously firing shots at Berial's face, distracting it from Nero. Finally, we kicked it's ass. Fuck yeah!

Don't ask," Nero said. "Damn thing drives me crazy, though."

"You are just like he was..."

"And 'he' would be?"

"Silence! I must restore my powers!" With that said Berial flew back through the gateway in a burst of flames.

I looked around. Bitch, the entire town was flattened. Well done.

We went through some cool caves, then emerged into the snow. That's right, snow. Goddammit, this was a bad time to be wearing my short sleeve jacket. I remembered that I had a pair of long fingerless gloves in my pocket conveniently, so I put them on.

We rounded a corner, and I said, "Whoa." there was Fortuna Castle, in all its glory. It was massive, and it was still so far away. "That's a nice castle," I said.

We set off again, aiming for some staircases. But as soon as we stepped on it, they collapsed. It was pretty hectic. Nero landed all awesome-like. He turned around, confused. "Maria?" he asked.  
"Up here," I said. I was neatly clinging onto the edge of what's left of the staircase. "Help?" I asked.  
"Just drop!" Nero called. "I'll catch you!"  
"If you don't catch me, you're fucken dead!" I warned, and dropped. Luckily for Nero, he caught me, all bridal style.

We stood there for a few seconds. Our faces were really close together, and I suddenly realised how blue Nero's eyes were. But I regained control of myself, and coughed lightly. He dropped he to the ground.

No times for feelings to get in the way, Maria. Mind on the job.

There were some pretty freaky ice demons, who were a bitch to fight. But Nero's Devil Hand was conveniently at hand (ha ha), so they were out of the way.

We walked up the big walkway to Fortuna Castle. It was very impressive from this angle. Suddenly, a demon was flying through the air. "Huh?" Nero and I said, and drew our guns. But we saw that there was someone straddling it, so we didn't open fire.

BAM! The person plowed the demon headfirst right in front of us, killing it. The person straddling it opened its legs. It was a woman. "Ah," she said, interested. Suddenly, demons were flying everywhere. We would've helped, but she was doing fine. Geez, she was a bit of a cocktease.

There was one that was about to get her, but Nero and I shot it. She span around. She was dressed like a skank, no offense to her. "I owe you thanks," she said.

She sauntered up to us. Geez, it was so awkward looking at her. I looked away out of politeness.  
"You're from the Order?" Nero asked. I realised that she was adorned somewhere on her barely-there clothes was the Order's symbol, the same one that was on Nero and I's jackets. "I've never seen you before," I said defensively. She made me feel like crap.

"I'm new." She held out her hand. "Gloria," she said with a sexy wink. I bit back words which would've went along the lines of BACK OFF BITCH HIS MINE. Nero was rude and ignored her hand, so I said, " I'm Maria." I didn't shake her hand.

"You're Nero, right?" Gloria stepped around me to face Nero, who turned his back. I put Mori back in its holster to lessen the temptation to shoot her sorry ass back to the Order. "I've heard rumours," she continued.  
"Hasn't everyone?" Nero said.  
"Quite a few, in fact, and none to flattering."

I decided to change the topic, I could see Nero was uncomfortable around her. "So what's the deal?" I asked. "Where are all these demons coming from?"  
"It's strange," Gloria agreed, and leaned over to slide her knife back into her boot. I raised an eyebrow. Really? I thought. Nero looked away, hell, I felt awkward around her, and I was the same gender.

"Then we'll leave that chore to you, we've got some person demon slaying to do," Nero said bluntly, and walked off. I didn't see how this was personal to me, but it was to him, so I caught up to him quickly.  
"I'll join with the others; we'll take care of them," Gloria said. A demon twitched next to her, and she used her foot to break its neck. That was pretty cool. "May the Savior be with you on your journey."

"Heh, Savior..." I heard Nero mutter.

We entered the castle. In its heyday it would've been glorious, but now it was cold, dark, and strange. There was a huge portrait of Sanctus on the wall, and I groaned. Geez, he wasn't anything that special, let it go.

We explored the castle, then went into this awesome library. I was really impressed. I loved reading, I could waste days in here. But it was a mess, and I couldn't handle messes. I immediately went off to look at a bookcase, while Nero flipped through a book with Blue Rose. I pulled out a big black book, and leafed through it. Boring.  
"Funny," I heard Nero say. "I'd never have taken this guy to be a bookworm." I heard footsteps, and suddenly a guy wearing the Order's armour was standing there. An Imperial Guard.  
"That's one way to get yourself shot," Nero said; he had aimed Blue Rose at his head. He holstered it, and went back to flipping through the books.

I didn't move. Something about this guy wasn't right, I didn't know what. I pulled out Mementus silently from its sheath, waiting.  
"So, you after this guy too?" Nero asked, "or here to catch some demons?"  
The guard remained silent.  
"Silent type huh?" Nero guessed. He glanced around for me, and saw me hiding in the shadows. I placed a finger on my lips. He nodded slightly. "Well, that's... annoying."

Just then, the guard lunged with his lance; my instincts were right. Nero caught it using the inside of his book expertly. "So much for friendly banter," Nero said angrily. "If you want a fight, then come on!" He whipped out Red Queen, and it was on.

I stayed in the shadows, waiting for the right time. Suddenly, the guard had his back to me. I sprinted forward, leapt into the air and plunged Mementus straight through the gap between the helm and the neck, a killing shot.

Suddenly, the armour simply fell apart. I grabbed the helm as it fell.  
"Empty," I remarked, confused.  
"A demon, it possessed the Order's armour," Nero said. The armour dissolved in a blaze of light. He helm in my hand also dissolved.  
"That's not a good sign," I said worryingly.

A door slid open. "Guess that's the only way," Nero said. And with that, we walked through it.

**Thanks for reading, really hope you enjoyed it!**


	4. Chapter 4

AAAND Another chapter. Good for me, and also good for you, so you get to read on about Nero and Maria's adventure! So, shall we begin...?

.

.

.

We walked into this massive courtyard. It as rather nice, except for the black gate thing that was identical to the one we saw with Berial and for the big blizzard. I shivered, and rubbed my arms, my teeth chattering.  
"Bit cold, eh?" I said. Nero shrugged; he was basically immune to heat and cold. I've seen him wear that big jacket of his at the beach ona scorching day. He's weid like that.

We heard moaning, and we sa this two glowing things in the middle of the courtyeard. They were shaped like women, and acting like total lesbians.

"Really?" I sid mildly.

"The blizzard must be these demons," Nero muttered, as the lezzo things tried to draw Nero into their sexual activity.

"Oh, hell no," I said, and pulled out Mori and shot one, using all three of the barrels. It shrieked and fell down, glowing a lot less dully.

"Well, if you got demons, you gotta take them out," I said. I drew Mementus. If you compared my blade with Nero's you'd find that mine was a lot smaller and thinner, much more for stabbing rather than slashing.

Nero grinned, and drew Red Queen. "Let's do this!"

We slashed and knocked the demons around a bi. It was pretty fun, until they suddenly disappeared, and this massive toad jumped out. The demons were the toads antennae.

"Ahh, geez! I fucken HATE toads!" I complained.

"So this is what you like like," Nero said, as if he'd known the lesbians were antennae all along. Bullshit.

"You two are stronger than you look, with a smart ass mouth to match!" The demon roared. I vaguely remembered doing an assignment when I was eight about giant toad demons... Bael, that's right. It's name was Bael. Man, I hated that assignment.

"Cut us some slack," Nero said. "We're not big on toads."

"FOOOOOOL!" The demon roared, slime pouring out of it's mouth and onto us. I tried my best not to throw up. "YOU THINK I CARE ABOUT WHAT YOU SAY?"

"If we don't finish this quickly, it's gonna scar me for life!" Nero complained, and brushed off some slime. I grinned, and wiped some away as well.

It was a pretty intense battle. Thanks to that assignment, I remembered that he could disappear and appear in a flash, could shoot ice from it's tail and eat you. Nero lashed the front and tried not to get frozen while I slippedin from the back and hacked at its tail.

Nero used his Devil Trigger to pummel it,and finally it was stuck on it's back. It complained about how it was sad that he lost, but his brothers will get us, so Nero threw it into the walls of the courtyard. It fell, dead.

'Wait, did it say 'brothers'?" I said. With a bad feeling, we looked at the door, and saw an army of those stupid toads marching straight to us. "Oh god, I think I'm gonna hurl," I groaned, clutching my stomach. When the first toad was just about to break through, Nero punched it with his Devil Trigger, and finally closed the door.

I sank to the ground. "Oh, thank god," I said gratefully. "I'm gonna have nightmares for months, maybe even years!"

.

.

.

We continued combing through Fortuna Castle. Not many demons encountered us. Good thing, I wasn't up to fighting at the moment.

We found this strange tunnel thing, where these demons like sharks attacked us. They were a bitch to fight, I almost got my foot sliced open. I saw vents that looked like they could spill out poisonous gas at any time, so we hurried along.

We entered this lab, which looked deserted. There were large ad dangerous-lookign swords hanging up around us. There was a glass window which looked into this strange lab, where there was this broken sword that floated around in blue light. Nero's arm glowed as we looked at it. "Hey Nero, looks like you're destined to have that sword," I grinned. Nero rolled his eyes at me, and smiled. I like it when he smiles. He usually scowls and screams a lot, which is embarrassing when you're in public.

"So, you've come." A voice came through to us out of a speakercomm. A guy wearing white and with a monocle and a pony tail walked out. "Just as I expected."

I sort-of remembered this guy. I saw him once or twice when I was training to be a knight of the Order, years ago. I laughed at him and called him three eyes because of his monocle.

"Who the hell are you?" Nero called out, looking around.

"I... am Agnus." Agnus bowed deeply and mockingly to us. "Working in secrecy, very few are p-p-p-privy to my existance."

"Funny, to figure an Order official out for a stroll in a hellhole place like this," I said.

"HELLHOLE?" Agnus roared. He stabbed a finger at me.m"Watch your words!" I smiled sweetly, yet mockingly. I did that a lot.

"Just as foulmouthed as I'd heard," Agnus grumbled. So people have heard of my potty mouth? Hell yeah! I've got a reputation. "The rumors prove true. Along with the others concerning your d-d-d-demise."

"Don't you think that's a little harsh?" Nero asked. "Killing us because of the say she t-t-t-talks?" Thanks Nero.

Agnus looked outraged. Suddenly, the swords on the walls burst forward. They were demons. "Oh, come on! More demons?" I yelled, and drew Mementus. Nero and I pressed our backs to each other, defending each other.

While we desperately fought off the demons, Agnus started a rant about Credo. I resented that. Credo was like the brother I never had. "This... this is all Credos doing. It was Credo who ordered you two to find Dante... It as Credo who brought you here!"

'Dante?" I yelled, slsahing a demon. So that's who the silver haired guy we had to track down was. "You mean that man who kiled His Holiness? What the FUCK is going on here?"

"I don't have to answer to you," Agnus said, sneering at me. "For you two are as good as d-d-d-dead."

"I beg to differ!" Nero said. He grabbed my hand -not my arm, my hand- and we jumped through the glass window, knocking Agnus over.

"Tha-tha-tha-that's demoninc power!" he stuttered, staring astonishingly at Nero's arm. "How can it be...?" he tried to crawl away, but Nero and I followed him.

"Look who's talking, jackass," Nero said. He slowly get go of my hand, but I felt like I didn't want him to.

God damnit Maria, get your feeling under control!

"Now answer Maria's question," Nero growled, holding the tip of Red Queen at Agnus' throat. "What the hell is going on here?"

Agnus ignored the sword, and leaned to get a better look at Nero's arm. "How profound... it's magnificent!" Nero looked at his arm, and lowered Red Queen. He walked backwards, and I followed suit.

"Okay, did you even hear him?" I said angrily; I was not known for my patience. I swung Mementus, but Agnus caught it expertly using his finger tip. I tried to pull my seord away, but he was amazingly strong. "If you want answers... then I will give them to you." Hi voice dropped to a whisper as he let go of my blade.

"It has only been a few years since I began this research… Could we isolate and bind demonic power? It could enable us to conquer the world! And that, that is the wish of His

Holiness!" Agus dopped into another bow.

"What a crock," Nero said disbelievingly. "Well, you may as well ditch the effort pal, because His Holiness is dead."

"Ahh, but His Holiness has been resurrected," Agnus paused for effect, "as an angel."

"Oh, bullshit," I said disbelievingly.

"Yes, yes!" Agnus nodded enthusiastically. "And soo, so shall I."

Just then, Angels flodded into the room. One stabbed Nero in the stomach. Two others polwed him into the wall, using their lances to hold him up on the wall.

"Nero!" I screamed. Just then, an Angel stabbed me through the stomach, and knocked m against the wall.

My mouth went dry, and my heart thudded painfully against my chest. Oh god. My ultimate fear: dying. I'm going to die. I heard someone scream my name, but I was frozen in fear. I don't want to die. God, I don't want to die. Those thought circled my head as my world slipped into darkness.

.

.

.

_Nero_

"Maria!" I screamed as I watched Maria fly into the wall. Her green eyes widened. Just then, I suddenly realised that despite all her talk and acting, she was scared. And she was scared that she was going to die. I won't let that happen, I thought defiantly, as I watched her slip out of conciousness. But she didn't look good.

"See what just a small fraction of my research has yielded?" Agnus gestured to the Angels hovering demoncally near him. "Look! How beautiful this white armor stands! You have no idea the hardship to make just one armor come to life. I had to capture and control countless demons to harness their souls. Summoning them alone was almost an insurmountable task!"

"Summoning...?" I managed to get out. "So it was you... who created the gate?"

"Yes yes! The Hell Gate!" Agnus said, almost excitedly. "I created it merely as a reference in substitution for the real gate. But after utilizing an extremely powerful devil arm, it proved sufficient."

"What the hell are you talking about?" I said angrily. The lance in my stomach hurt, and I couldn't move my arms out of their painful position.

Agnus held out his hand, and one of the demons word flew into it. "You... should rest," he said, then stabbed me. I screamed, and spat out blood. Maria remained out of action, pinned uselessly against the wall.

"Soo, you shall be my next subject of experimentation," Agnus promised. "So I can learn a little bit about you, and that arm."

"Never," I growled. I spat a bit of my blood on his face. He looked angrily at me, and turned away.

"But I won't need the girl though.," Agnus said. "I'll dispose of her. She's useless."

"Touch her, you DIE!" I roared. Hurt me, experment on me, but never, EVER touch Maria. Suddenly I realised that she might've just died, and my blood turned to ice. And it was this bastard's fault.

Our last mission suddenly came to my mind. I remembered her screaming, and me screaming out her name. I couldn't save her that time, she survived barely. My arm was badly hurt, but she was worse. I blamed myself entirely

My anger escalated to a level it's never gone before. My eyes went red, and a blue aura came into being around me. I held out my hand, and the floating sword flew into my hand, now repaired. I screamed, and the lances that held me up disintegrated as an explosion erupted through the laboratory. Agnus screamed, and flew out into the area we were before. He was now in th shape of a bug with a metal halo on his head. "How...?" he said. His voice was different. "Not even I could succeed in restoring it!"

I struggled forward, not really in control of myself. I felt a demon aura floatin above me. I felt stronger than I've ever felt before.

**"From that day forth... my arm changed,"** I said, not really in control of my own voice. My mind was filed with images of Maria getting hurt from all our past mission, and I realised that I blamed myself for every cut, every bruise. **"And a voice echoed, 'Power... give me more power!"**

"What?" Agnus squeaked. He looked around deperately for an escape route, bu the room was sealed, with me in it. **"And if I became a demon, so be it," **I continued. **"I'll endure the exile. Anything... to protect her!" **An image of Maria laughing and smiling at me filled my mind. I roared, and swumg the sword in my hand. An arc of energy barely missed Agnus, and hit the ceiling, causing a massive hole to fall out. "This is preposterous!" Agnus yelled. "Preposterous!" With that, he flew away.

The massive amount of energy leaked ot of me, and I felt exhausted. The sword shone blue, and disappeared. I had a feeling that it was in my Devil Arm, and it would come if I needed it. I fell to my knees, panting. I heard a small groan, and fear stabbed my heart. I ran over to Maria. The lance in her stomach disintegrated when I made the room explode, but she was still unconcious. The wound was so bad that I could barely look at it.

I kneeled down and held her in my arms. "Maria! Wake up!" I said. I felt tears in my eyes. "Wake up!" My arm glowed bright gold, then her wound closed up. She groaned, and slowly opened her eyes. "Ow," she said quietly.

I started laughing in relief. She was alright.

"Nero, what happened?" she asked, but I just pulled her close to my chest, still laughing. I was just so relieved that she was alright.

"Wasn't I.. oh god," she whispered. She slipped a hand between her and me and felt her stomach. "I'm alright," she said amazingly. "Well, except for being hugged to death."

I released my hug. "Sorry, but I was jst so glad that you're okay."

She smirked. "Please. It's gonna take a lot more than a mad scientist with a suit of armour to take me down."

I chuckled, shaking my head. "Of course, silly me."

Maria got up hesitantly, leaning on my shoulder befre she realising that she was alright, and there was no pain. "Where to now?" she asked.

I got up, and shrugged. "I want to head to Headquarters to ask Credo about this Dante guy."

She shrugged. "Sounds like a plan. Let's head out."

"But Maria," I said, turning to face her. "If I was a demon, would you still like me?"

Maria looked at me with those clear green eyes of hers. "I personally think it would'nt matter," he said evenly. "You're my friend, my best friend, in fact, and nothing is going to stop me feeling like that."

She turned around and headed towards the door. I felt mycheeks burn. I hope she wasn't suggesting something when she said that.


	5. Chapter 5

_**Chapter 5! i'm surprised at how well I'm continuing this. Thank you all s mcuh for reading it and encouraging me to continue this!**_

_**Also, just a warning: Kyrie is a VERY minor character in this. I downplay her role a lot to make room for Maria. Hope you all don't mind.**_

.

.

.

_Maria_

We got out of Fortuna Castle, much to my relief. I was sick to death of it. It was cold and I'm pretty sure that I'm going to be haunted by it for the rest of my life. We went through a waterfall to get to the nearst route to Headquarters, which was really cool, since I love waterfalls. I felt the weather get more hotter and more humid, and soon my gloves were safely stashed away in my pocket.

We walked out into the sun and saw the weirdest thing after Fortuna Castle: a forest. It was beautiful after the cold winter that we experienced not just a few hours ago.

"This is nice," I said approvingly ass I looked at the forest. It was massive.

"Must be the effects of the Gate," an unfamiliar voice said. In a heartbeat, Nero and I drew our guns and aimed them at... the assassin. Dante.

At first, I was angry. Then I saw that his massive sword was on his back, and his black and white guns were out of sight, so he wasn't here to stop us from stopping him... Did that make sense?

He looked at me and Nero. "Sorry kid, cutie, but this is gonna have to wait."

I almost shot him. Me? Cutie? Really?

Dante held his hands up in a peaceful matter, then jumped off th cliff.

"How much could he really know...?" Nero murmured.

"I can't BELIEVE he called me cutie!" I yelled, thoroughly pissed off.

"Yeah, that was slack! You're more than-" Nero stopped himself suddenly.

I turned to face him, smirking. "What was that? You didn't finish your sentance."

Nero looked around innocently, a little red. I decided to drop the matter.

"Well, let's get going," I said.

We got off the cliff, and started walking through the forest. It was wonderful. Birds sang, everythingwas green, and I enjoyed myself. We fought all these strange demons, and got chased by this snakey one through a catwalk. That was scary, but exhilerating.

We saw this strange archway, sovered in vines, and we walked through it. There was another Hell Gate. "Oh great, another massive demon?" I said.

"Most likely," Nero agreed.

We heard rustling, and the flower-vine-snake things came out."Oh, shit!" I yelled, and dove out of the way just in time. Nero grabbed onto it using his hand, and was whisked around the forest.

I stood around awkwardly. What can I do? Nero and the demon were far waway.

Suddenly, Nero came back with the demon, and using a giant version of his Devil Arm, he punched it to the ground. It shrieked, and spat out all these strange seeds. One landed next to me, and a strange demon thing came out. I cut it neatly with Mementus, along with the other.

"My children!" The demon shrieked. It peeled itself to reveal thi strange woman plant thing. "You BASTARDS!" She screamed at us. I was about to say 'Hey, pottymouth,' but I'm really not one to talk.

"Having you around is more than enough," Nero said, shurgging as if it was fair enough.

"Your insignificant insults have no effect on me," the demon lady hissed. "Though I will tear your bodies to SHREDS!" She made a move to get Nero, but I decided hey, what the hell, and shot her straight in the face, three round burst.

She screamed, and faced me. "Sorry, but you might want to start with me," I said, grinning cheekily. I looked at Nero. "I got this," I said confidently.

The demon went for me, and I hit the ground. I angled Mementus so the tip was pointing at an angle.`She slid along the ground, and along the tip of my sword. Sh screamed in agony and rage, but I nimbly leapt up and fired Mori repeatedly.

We fought off, mostly tactical stabs and slashes. Soon I was worn out, and so was the demon.

Suddenly, she split open her tail and impaled the tips in the ground like tent poles. There was this sac thing, and it spat out more seeds.

"Hey Nero!" I called out, panting. "Wanna help?"

"You bet!" He grinned, and we fought off this supid demon.

It was mostly common sense, and in the end, she was defeated. She made a break for the Hell Gate, but Nero grabbed onto her tail with a giant version of his Devil Arm.

"How shameful to be beaten by humans!" she wailed. Nero lost his grip, and the demon flew gratefully into the Gate.

"Hey, don't step up in you're not gonna put up a decent fight!" Nero said.

As the gate closed, a basket thing full of quishy red things fell on the ground. Nero picked it up. "Hey, didn't your mom tell you not to litter?" Nero said, holding it up. With a shine, it was absorbed into his Devil Arm.

"Hey, looks like you leveled up," I joked. Nero rolled his eyes.

I put my hands behind my head. "I was pretty kick-ass, wasn't I?" I grinned.

Nero rolled his eyes. "Not as good as me though."

"Hey, you got an unfair advantage!" I argued.

"Before that, I was still better than you!"

"Oh, bullshit," I waved an arm dismissively. "Now let's go to stupid headquarters."

We trekked along happily, bumping into a few demons which we took out quickly. Soon, the shining white headquarters of the Holy Order of Sparda was in view. But first, there was a fuckload of stairs.

"You see, this is why I hate the Order," I said. "They've never heard of fucken elevators."

Nero laughed heartily, and I smiled. "Ah, Maria, I love your jokes."

I waved a hand non chalantly. "You flatter me so. Now let's go and ask some questions. And be a bit nice to Credo. He may be a dick, but he's still Kyrie's sister and a really good friend of mine.

.

.

.

Whe we got to the top of the stairs, there was the area outside the outside the prayer room. It was really high up, so going near the edges was frowned upon. And standing in the middle, glaring at Nero and I, was Credo.

"Credo!" I said, grinning. "How are you?"

He just glared at me. Geez, what did I do? I thought I was his friend.

"That's a look you shoot your enemy with," I joked.

Credo stayed silent.

"Ok, well, tell us this then," Nero said. "What exactly is the Order after? And who the hell is Dante?"

"You do not demand answers from me!" Credo yelled. I was rather hurt. He drew his sword and attacked Nero. "No!" I screamed, but Nero blocked it with his Devil Arm. I was amazed.

"You possess the power of a demon," he muttered, looking at Nero's arm. He hid it away.

"Credo! What the hell is wrong with you?" I yelled.

"Back down!" Nero said, holding out Red Queen. "I don't want to hurt you. I won't do that to Kyrie, or Maria!"

"Hurt me?" Credo said mockingly. "You don't gt it, do you?" He glowed gold and floated into the air.

"You too," I murmured, devastated. Credo was like the brother I never had, I can't believe this.

"I have been chosen to take the next step in evolution and become something much more than human," Credo declared. "I am an angel!"

"Wrong, Credo," I said quietly. "All you've become is a fucken demon."

I saw Credo hesitate, but then he held out his sword. "As the Captain of the Holy Knight, I plce both of you under arrest," he declared. "It is the wish of His Holiness!"

I drew Mementus. "As much as it pains me, we gotta fight him," I said to Nero. "Let's do this.

.

.

.

_3rd Person_

"No..." Credo said as he got up. "Not yet. I'm not finished!" Nero glared at him. Credo desperately tried to bring his sword down on Nero but he blocked it with his Devil Trigger.

"Your strength's increased," Credo noted.

Nero held out Red Queen, a look of hatred on his face. He was about to bring it down on the defenceless Credo when they heard a sound that surprised them all.

"Nero?"

Nero turned around. Near the doorway of the prayer room was Maria.

And she looked petrified.

She'd never seen this side of Nero, full of fury and bloodlust. And it scared her.

"Maria..." Nero whispered. The look in her eyes was of fear, and he was ashamed that it was because of her. After all, he admits that he was attacking Credo to kill.

"No, wait, I was going to... it's not you think!"

"You were going to..." Maria said. Tears filled her eyes. Nero felt more ashamed. Ever since they were kids, Maria never, ever cried.

Agnus suddenly appeared. "It was our interest to keep the Order, and you, from the truth," he said. "Nero is a demon."

Maria looked at him, a look of fearful belief on her face. Nero wanted to scream. Can't she see?Didn't she tell him that she didn't care that he was a demon? What's going on? Nero wanted to scream.

"You son of a..." Nero growled, glaring daggers at Agnus.

"Not to worry," Agnus said. "I have no intentions of harming Maria... yet." Agnus grinned wickedly, and held one of his demon swords to Maria's throat. "Although, it seems that your attachment extends beyond friendship."

Nero suddenly realised that Agnus was true. He didn't like Maria. He loved her.

"Sh has nothing to do with this!" Nero insisted. "LET HER GO!"

"Agnus!" Credo said, struggling forward. "How dare you use my friend like that! Let her go!"

Nero stared desperately at Maria. Slowly, steadily, Maria closed one of her eyes in a wink. Nero's heart soared.

"His Holiness has predicted your fate, and so has ordered that your friend be utilised-" Agnus didn't get to finish, but Maria elbowed him in the stomach and punched him under the jaw. She ducked under the sword and sprinted over to Nero, a grin on her face.

"Not so fast!" Agnus roared, and threw his sword. It flew along thr air as a demon for a second then quickly turned back into a sword.

So it impaled Maria.

"NOOOOOO!" Nero screamed. Maria stopped, eyes wide. She looked at the swrd point sticking out of her stomach, then stared disbelievingly at Nero. She sank to her knees, then fell on her side.

"NOOOOOOOOO!" Nero tried to snatch her using his Devil Trigger, but Agnus was too fast, and was at the entrance of the prayer room, Maria's unconcious form in one hand, the sword in the other. "If you want the little demon slayer, come and get her," Agnus challenged. "For I cannot guarantee her fate." With that, he flew off.

Nero stared after him disbelievingly. He let Maria get hurt and kidnapped. It was all his fault.

"His Holiness... used Maria?" Credo gasped out.

"Where did he take her?" Nero demanded angrily at Credo. "Back to headquarters?"

"I would assume so," Credo said. "Nero, we must set aside this battle until I find the truth in this." He changed into his demon form and flew off, shedding feathers.

Nero stood there, alone. _Maria... I will get you out of this. I will save you!_ Nero set off determinedly into the prayer room. _Because you've done so much for me... because I love you._

.

.

.

_**Nawww, he loves her. Now it gets interesting. Hope you guys liked it, I had fun writing this!**_


	6. Chapter 6

_**Chapter 6! Hooray! I wrote most of these chapters on the same night, so that's why I think I got so many chapters out of this, lol. Hope you guys enjoy it, and remember to review!**_

.

.

.

_Nero_

I trudged on through headquarters. It was no fun being all by myself, and I really missed Maria's presence. It had a soothing effect on me, so now I just angrily took down every demon I could see.

Finally, there was this dark room, with a red glow. I looked up, and saw Maria in a glass case. There were red lights over her wrists and feet, and light was going out of her. Her face was a silent scream, and her body was arched in pain. It hurt to see her like that.

I walked in closer, but stupid Agnus appeared, bug form and all. "So... you've come," he said.

"What have you done to Maria?" I yelled at him angrily.

"Why don't you check and find out?" Agnus said tauntingly. "But don't expect me to be as easy on you as last time..."

"If I have to kill you to save Maria, then let's roll!" I declared.

We fought, and he was a lot harder than last time. He summoned demon swords and those demon shark things, but he wasn't as nearly as good as me. Soon, he was defeated.

"Damn you! DAMN YOU!" Agnus roared at me. "I will kill you. I will kill you!"

He made a move to attack me, but suddenly Angels were flying everywhere to distract me. I couldn't get to Agnus nor Maria because of them, so I battled it out. I saw a golden Angel talking to Angus, and I saw him bow. It must've been His Holiness. He's alive.

I fought away the Angels, and saw Maria under Sanctus's arm, awake and filled with pain. "Nero!" she screamed, and struggled against Sanctus. But the pain made her wince, and her arms were forced against her side because of the way he's holding her.

I pushed away the Angels in front of me and yelled, "Let her go!" I jumped up, arm to try and grab Maria.

"MARIAAA!" She looked at me desperately, but I didn't jump high enough, and in the end I only ripped off the necklace I gave her.

I ddn't get a chance for a second go, as the Angels were back on me, and dogpiled me. "You have indeed inherited Sparda's power," Sanctus said.

"NEROOOO!" Maria screamed as they flew away.

I felt the fury and power that I experienced in the laboratory appear again, and my eyes went red. I threw off all the Angels on me. I fell to my knees and looked at the sky and watched the small dot that was Maria and Sanctus disappear. I looked at the necklace in my hand, the small spade with emeralds in it. My eyes filled with tears. I screamed and punched the groun, the power of my Devil Arm causing it to crack. I screamed and screamed then finally broke down into tears.

_Maria... I failed you._

_._

_._

_._

I'm not gonna take this lying down. I'm going to march up to Sanctus, punch him in the face, save Maria and live happily ever after.

Well, that was the plan.

I marched through this big room, where there was this stone bed thing. I didn't care though, i jus marched straight on...

To see Dante.

Oh great, this bastard. I don't have time for this.

"What took you so long?" he asked me.

"You... what are you doing here?" I asked. I shook my head. "Nevermind, I don't have time for this."

"And neither do I," Dante said. He put his arm on my shoulder. I didn't like that. I jabbd him with Red Queen, but Dante dodged easily. He grabbed my arm.

"So I'll cut to the chase," he finished, grinning. He threw into the wall, arm first.

Well, that just pissed my off. I felt the power escalate, and I was in Devil Trigger mode. The sword I got back at the lab was in my hand.

"I'm here for the sword," Dante announced.

"Your point being?" I asked. I emerged from the dust, the demon aura floating above me.

Dante looked interested at my change of power. "It was originally my brother's," he explained. "Return it to me and I'll let you go... kid."

"Kid?" I repeated, smirking. I looked at the sword. "Well... if that's how you see me I think you'll blush a pretty pink when I kick your ass!" I swung the sword, and energy slash arced to Dante, which he dodged easily. My slash destroyed a pillar, but Dante sat stylishly on another.

"Ah, helpful hint, take a tip from your elders..." he said.

He jumped down, and we proceeded to fight. Have to admit, he was good. Really good. I knocked Dante's sword out of his hand and lunged forward to impale him in the throat, but Dante deftly dodged, causing me to fall over on my face. I tried to move around to attack Dante again, but he had his sword held against my throat.

"You cooled off yet, kid?" Dante asked. I glared furiously at him. "What's the matter? Why the glare?"

"You been acting as if you'd just been playing with me frm the beginning," I growled. Dante stepped on my Devil Arm, but it didn't cause me pain or anything. It was tougher than a foot.

He moved away. "That sword... was used to separate our world from the demon's," he explained. "I can't have something of that kinda power floating around, can I? Gotta stay in the family."

I looked down at the sword. I remembered that it came to me when Maria was hurt. I needed it to save her.

"I need this," I murmured.

"Then keep it," Dante said, which confused me. I looked up at him.

"Now that you're calm and cool, go and save that cutie." It didn't surprise that Dante knew about Maria and her kidnapping. I smiled slightly, gripped the sword and walked past Dante.

"Hey," Dante called back at me. "What's your name?"

"Nero," I called back. "You're Dante, right? Not a bad name..." I continued on. Let's kick some holy ass.

.

.

.

I wen to the big courtyard in headquarters, but it wa different, somehow. I proceeded up the staircase, a melancholic feeling in my gut.

I looked up, and saw this strange humanoid statue floating up ahead.

"What the..." I said. I pulled out Blue Rose and pointed it at Sanctus, who was on the head.

"Is it not beautiful?" he asked me. I rolled my eyes.

"I think we've got a difference of opinion on that one," I said.

"How unfortunate," Sanctus said. He lefted his arms up and the gem on the statue glowed. Maria emerged from he gem, unconscious.

"Maria!" I exclaimed. She woke up and stared at me desperately.

"Is it not your wish to become one with her?" Sanctus asked. Well, that was pretty awkward. "Within the Savior your mortal bodies will combine, melting into one to manifest and create his core! A thing of utter and pure beauty."

"Go blow yourself," I spat at him.

Sanctus fumed, and Maria smiled down at me. I smiled gently at her and lowered Blue Rose.

"I'm here to save you... " I said to her. "Please trust me."

Maria nodded as she was absorbed back into the gem as I was speaking.

"I'm afraid you are too late," Sanctus said. "Although still incomplete, this is your chance to ccatch a glimpse of the true power of the Savior!"

The statue swung a fist at me. Oh great, so now I have to fight Sanctus while he was sitting happily on a statue. The best thing about it was that the statue was slow, so eventually I beat it back. I leat into the air, aiming the fina strike with Red Queen, but suddenly Maria was pushed to the surface of the gem. I faltered; I wouldn't dare strike with her like that. The Savior statue grabbed me in one of its stony fists.

s

"Held back by love. Such a shame," Sanctus said sadly, but the way he said it just made it mocking. 'Still, I must salue a man who carries the blood of Sparda. While still not in Dante's league, you are much more of a challenge than I anticipated."

"Dante...?" I said wonderingly. How does he know about Dante? What is this?

"I had originally intended to absord him into Our Savior, but I'd rather choose the option at hand." He moved the Savior's fist so I was near enough to him. Somehow, he summoned the sword in my Devil Arm to him. I was shocked. I needed it.

"When your blood and this sword are combined, we will be able to proceed to the final stages of our goal!" Sanctus said triumphantly. Suddenly, everything clicked. They're going to destroy the world.

To my surprise, Credo leaped in front of Sanctus and knocked him aside. "Nero! Run!" he screamed at me. I tried to get out of the Savior's fist, but it was a really tight hold. But just then, Sanctus stabbed Credo with my sword.

"Credo!" I screamed. Oh god, no. Kyrie and Maria will be distraught.

"You have betrayed us," Sanctus said, almostly sadly. "Why?"

"I served the dream you spoke of, that the Savior preached of..." Credo got out, obviously painfully. "But you use Maria, who is Kyrie's best friend and like a sister to me, who has nothing to do with this, and that is beyond forgiveness."

"Love...?" Sanctus said, almost wonderingly. "For some like a sibling...? How foolish."

He pulled the sword out of Credo, and threw him off the statue to the ground far below. I watched helplessly as he fell out of sight.

"All that is needed is absolute power!" Sanctus cried triumphantly.

I looked down, and saw that Dante caught him. There was a blode woman wearing black leather next to him.

"Oh, it's you... Gloria," Sanctus said to the woman. I arched an eyebrow. She was Gloria? She certainly didn't look like her. But now that I think about it, she remindedly vaguely of the blonde bobbed lad from only a few days ago. "Unfortunately, you did not anticipate a descendant of Sparda's blood, and because of this boy, you have been outwitted! And the Savior will be completed!"

"I dunno," Dante said. "I'd wager that kid's still got some life in him."

While Sanctus was distracted, I reached out with my Devil Arm and slammed Sanctus into the wall. However, he disappeared. I was confused, but then there was extreme pain in my right arm. Sanctus had stabbed me with my own sword.

"You fool!" he cried. "Escape is now impossible! The creation cannot be stopped!" He cacked gleefully as the glow of my arm faded away.

"Hey kid!" Dante called up at me. "You giving up so soon?"

"My options..." I got out, "are limited."

"So melodramatic. Besides, if you die without giving my sword back, I'm gonna be pissed!"

The fist was absorbing my body. Before I disappeared, I had enough strength in my right arm to give Dante the finger. "Then come and get it."

"What a punk," I heard Dante say before everything went dark.

.

.

.

_**I really enjoyed writing this chapter. Don't forget to review, I love hearing about how you guys feel about the story.**_


	7. Chapter 7

_**Well, here you go guys, the final chapter. I have a lot to cram into this one, so hopefully it will be longer than the other chapters.**_

_**Also, if you find any typos, it's because I'm typing this on my laptop, and typing is pretty challenging at times, and SpellCheck doesn't work. :(**_

_**Anyway, enjoy!**_

.

.

.

_Nero_

I didn't remember much about what happened after I was absorbed. All I knew was that I was in a heart-like cocoon of it, powerless, with Maria out there depending on me.

I had no idea how long I was in there for. But all I did was hope that I somehow got out of here.

I sat there in the cocoon, wondering what to do, when I heard a dull thunk. I paid no heed to it. But then I heard faint gunshots, and something stabbed the cocoon. I looked; it was my sword. Yamato, that's what Sanctus called it.

I heard a voice. "Time to wake up kid, you're missing out on all the fun!" Dante. He was trying to save me. That was nice of him.

I couldn't move; the cocoon was pressing down on me from all sides. I wrestled to try and grab Yamato, but I couldn't budge.

"Nero!" Dante called. Hey, he didn't call me a kid. Well, that's some motivation. Finally, I grabbed the hilt, and made two slashes. I tumbled out of the cocoon, free. I held Yamato in my Devil Arm, and it glowed bright blue. Aww yeah. Nero's back baby.

Dante somehow knew that I escaped, because he said: "It's up to you from here, kid! An opportunity to save the world doesn't happen everyday, you know! Savor it."

"This I will savor," I decided. "Let's clean up this mess!

"Do what you gotta do, kid, cause I'm gonna send this guy on a one way trip to hell!" Dante announced.

"Don't worry," I called out. I heard clashes; Dante was fighting the statue. "I'm gonna get this done!"

"Good luck, kid!"

As if you're gonna meet demons in a Sanctus statue, so my trip to the heart of Sanctus was rather pleasant, although strange. There were these strange eyes everywhere, and they looked at me as I passed. Strange.

The ground rumbled under my feet, causing me to jerk sideways. "Talk about shaking things up in here!" I said.

"Hey kid!" Dante argued. "You should see what I'm up against!"

"Guess we're in the same boat," I remarked as I headed to the heartcore of Sanctus.

.

.

.

I found my way to the heartcore. It was a freaky place, with more of those eyes everywhere. There was a shining heart-like cocoon in the middle of it, casting an eerie scarlet glow. And in the heart was Maria, awake but in fear.

I was about to run up to her, but Sanctus blocked my path. He looked... strange, almost corrupted. He wasn't the sweet old man that I thought him of.

"We had originally intended Dante to form the Savior's core," Sanctus told me. "Perhaps it would've been wise to adhere to that choice."

"Too late for regrets," I spat. "Now release Maria!"

"Why oppose the Order?" Sanctus asked me. "I knew your faith was weak, but I thought you served out wishes."

"Bad enough you lying about all this and trying to kill me," I said, "But what really pissed me off was using Maria."

Sanctus looked interested. "What is that? Love?"

Maria disappeared into the heartcore. She tried to yell something out, but no sound escaped. She disappeared in a red flash.

I smirked, and gripped Yamato. "Look it up."

I swung the sword, and an energy slash arced to Sanctus. He easily repelled it, and sent it back to me. I dodged, but Sanctus had disappeared.

"Come on, kid!" Dante called out to me from outside. "It's time to finish this!"

"Just wrapping things up on my part," I called back.

"Don't be too sure, boy!" Sanctus growled as he attacked me from the shadows. I slashed wildly at him, keeping him at bay.

"Although flawed, the power of the Savior is beyond which you can defeat!" Sanctus boasted. Well, he's given me a challenge, I'd hate to just give up.

This was one of the hardest battles I had ever been in, even harder than Dante, in some retrospects. I used a combination of my Devil Trigger, Blue Rose and Red Queen to slowly hack away at him. It seemed like years almost, but eventually Sanctus stumbled back.

"The power of Sparda, why won't you give me strength?" Sanctus shieked. "AM I NOT WORTHY?

"Never could take those legends literally," I remarked. "But I do know that Sparda had a heart. A heart that could love another person, a human." I jabbed a finger at the weakened pope. "And that is what you lack!"

Sanctus howled with rage, and held his strange sword up to the now-appeared Maria's throat. I heard her whimper in fear. I remembered her reaction at the lab, and I couldn't even think about what she might be feeling right now.

"This time I will save you," I promised. "Just hold on..."

"Don't move or I'll-" Sanctus warned.

I walked towards him casually and suddenly threw Yamato. Distracted, Sanctus looked at the katana and I took the opportunity to use my Devil Trigger to slam him against the heartcore. I grabbed Yamato as it fell and sliced open the membranes binding Maria, then turned and stabbed Sanctus through the stomach. As Sanctus faded away screaming, Maria fell from the heart and I caught her like I did at the lab, all that time ago.

"Sorry I took so long," I whispered. She seemed to have blacked out from shock or stress. "Maria?"

She opened those clear green eyes of hers. She smiled up at me in joy and threw her arms around my neck. I held her tight to my body, so glad that she was alright and safe.

.

.

.

_Maria_

Before I continue with this, can I please mention that my stomach is hurting like a bitch?

I have a few blank spots in my memory. I remember looking at Nero in fear, then running to get away from Agnus. I definately remembered getting stabbed. That was probably the scariest moment of my life, and I was almost positive that I was going to die. I remembered Nero trying to grab me as Sanctus flew away, and being put in a gem. After that, mostly black, or red from pain.

Hey, I was lucky I even survived that stab wound. But I'm a tough son of a bitch.

After much hugging and everything, I tried to stand up. Bad idea, my wound flared up in pain. I gripped the slash, wincing. Without a word, Nero picked me up bridal style. I didn't mind, I felt safe in his arms.

He jumped out of the gem in the chest of the statue, and we jumped to the ground. A shower of shards fell around us, rather prettily. I looked around. The city was ruined, and that Dante guy was standing there expectantly for Nero. I missed out on a lot.

"Took your time," remarked Dante as Nero walked up to him.

"What, and you're expecting an apology?" Nero said sarcastcally. I laughed slightly, but even then my stomach hurt.

"Well, how long am I gonna have to wait for it?" Dante asked. He was a real smartass. I liked him.

The Sparda statue suddenly awoke, a look of fury remarkably like Sanctus' one on it's face.

"This guy doesn't let it go!" Dante complained. He walked forward, about to pull out his massive sword. But Nero held a hand holding Sanctus' retarded sword out to him, stopping him.

"This is where it started and this is where it ends... by my hand." Nero said.

"Alrighty then," Dante said. He took the massive sword. "Go finish it, kid."

Nero looked back at me. His eyes were soft. "Wait for me," he said.

I didn't want to be sarcastic, so I nodded gently. He smiled softly and walked up to the Savior.

"So, you're Dante," I remarked as we watched Nero take down that son-of-a-bitch.

"You got it, cutie," Dante winked at me. I rolled my eyes.

"I'll have you know that the name's Maria," I said dryly.

"Whatever, cutie." I laughed slightly, but my wound stabbed in pain. I winced again, trying hard not to cry out.

Dante looked at it. He whistled. "That's a nasty looking wound you got there," he said.

"Why thank you," I said sarcastically.

He pulled something out of his pocket. It was a star shaped glass, filled with a green glowing liquid. "Drink that," he recommended. "It's a Devil Star, should heal it up just fine." He threw it towards me, and I caught it.

I looked at it. "It looks radioactive, am I gonna turn into a mutant?" I asked.

Dante laughed heartily. "No no, it's made for healing wounds. No really, drink it," he encouraged.

I hesitantly put it up to my lips and drank. Ugh, it tasted disgusting, but I felt the wound instantly stop aching. When I finished and looked down, there was nothing but smooth skin and a ruined top.

"Wow, thanks so much!" I grinned at him. "That was a life saver, seriously."

Dante shrugged. "Glad to help."

We watched Nero use his Devil Arm to smash the statue's face in. That was a touch I rather enjoyed. The statue fell to the ground, while Nero landed safely, to my relief.

"Everything's back to normal," I remarked. "Well, that's no fun."

.

.

.

Dante was going, so Nero and him were saying their goodbyes. I let them say them in private, because I wouldn't really get most of it. I could see that Nero was a little bit sad, but at least we can hope we see him again. That would be nice.

Nero was about to give his sword back to Dante, but he said to keep it. Nero was surprised, to say in the least. Dante walked off, threw a salute at him and sauntered out of our lives, just as eaily as he walked in.

"So, this this the end?" I asked Nero, looking out at the wreck of the city. Demons were running loose, and there was not a sound. It was eerie.

"Maybe... maybe." Nero said.

"The city's a wreck," I remarked.

"Yeah," Nero said halfmindedly.

I whirled around to face Nero. "I.. I am still alive, right?" I asked. I pressed a hand to my stomach. It seemed so strange that I was so close to death so many times, yet I was somehow saved everytime. The wound throbbed slightly, but besides that there was only a thin line to suggest that I was stabbed.

Nero's eyes softened. "Yeah, we both are."

I smiled, and turned around. Nero moved to face me.

"Maria, if I was a demon, and not a human... is this what you want?" His eyes looked desperately into my own.

I smiled gently. "Nero, you're you, and it's you I want to be with." I grabbed his Devil Arm, and pulled it near my chest. His hand glowed gold. "I don't know anyone who is as human as you are," I declared.

Nero pulled out something from his pocket; it was the ace of spades necklace that Nero gave to me all that time ago. I remember that he pulled it off my neck accidentially.

He gently put his hands behind my head and clasped the necklace together. I was really glad that he saved it for me. I smiled happily.

Our heads grew close together. So close...

There was a bang as Nero shot the demon that was suddenly next to us. We looked around, and saw a horde had suddenly appeared.

"Looks like they're determined to interrupt," Nero remarked, facing them. He looked back at me. "Guess that kiss will have to wait."

"Oh hell no," I growled. I pulled out Persona. Mementus and Mori were lost, most likely around headquarters. I'll get them back later. "These sons-of-bitches are going DOWN!"

Nero grinned back at me. Just like old times. And we charged into battle.

When the last demon had disintegrated, I exclaimed, "Finally!" I tackled Nero to the ground and pressed my lips against his. At first he was surprised, then he kissed me back.

It was as if fireworks were going off, like the universe had delcared that this was right, that this was supposed to happen. I didn't mind. I was happy. I'll worry about all of the other details later.

After all, that's what tomorrow's for.

.

.

.

_**Aaaand it's now finished. Hooray! First story I've completed! Thank you all so, so much for reading this, and I hope you enjoyed it. Catch you later! ^^**_


End file.
